(Re)Traced Memories: Orientation and Farewell Program

It’s a journey we make each time we go to places: places to shop, places to travel, places to read and belong. That’s why, our places of study- school, college or universities become part of our identities.

It might seem like a normal thing that each semester students will enroll in the university, study for 12 semesters and then get ready to step into their ‘real life’! However, it’s the moments, memories which turn these 12 semesters into journeys both ‘long, tiring, never-ending’ ones and ‘just passed in a blink’ ones. But however passed, they are, most definitely, hard to forget!

So, the 12th October of 2017 was such a memorable day for the Department of English and Humanities at ULAB. It was a special day, differently for each group of people. The young, vibrant freshmen were excited to figure out what an orientation program looks like, and the seniors were unpacking their memories in flashbacks at the same time. It was a day when two opposite batches, the beginners and the ‘enders’ enjoyed their time in their own way in the auditorium as the department arranged the welcoming orientation of batch 173 and farewell of 133 batch together! The program was slightly different from what we have seen in the previous years as not only the students, but the teachers, too, were emotional in unison, as our Dean, Professor Kaiser Huq, our Head of the Department, Professor Shamsad Mortuza, Ph.D. reflected their feelings both for the freshers and the passing students, in their speeches. The cultural show started with the trio dance, followed by some mesmerizing music. The poetry recited to bid farewell took the senior batch into the floor of nostalgia and so did some of the songs. The stage skit “Be Yourself!” made the audience laugh like crazy as everyone was awestruck with the performances of our DEHians!

With laughter and fun, the freshers and all other took the message of not changing oneself just to go with the flow. The program also featured a short film where the juniors mimicked the graduating students, making the actual passing students and teachers emotional and nostalgic. The newcomers, too, got a hold of how this department values each and every student and they were ensured once more that they made the right choice to belong here!

Overall, it was a beautiful day to remember, to trace and (re) trace memories…!

A Talk on How to Research and Publish by Dr. Dennis Yang

On October 25, 2017, the Department of English and Humanities of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh organized a resourceful and intriguing event titled “A Talk on How to Research and Publish by Dr. Dennis Yang” at Campus A, Auditorium in ULAB. Dennis Yang is the author of The Pursuit of the Chinese dream: Chinese Undergraduate Students at American Universities, 2015 who served in Washington. D.C. as a Regional Program officer for Africa and before joining the state Department he previously served as founding associate director of Boston University’s Beijing Gateway office. This talk reflected the importance and methods of research where Dennis Yang shared his experience which helped the audience to perceive the different steps and ways of research. He also gave important information and examples about the devastating aftermaths of plagiarism which guided the audience to follow certain methods and systems while doing research. The talk had an interactive session, where the audience got to ask Dennis Yang some questions regarding their queries about different aspects of research. It helped the aspiring researchers to understand the importance of research and it also encouraged them to follow the proper ways of research in order to avoid the dire consequences of intended/unintended plagiarism.

Fragmented Memory: Incomplete History Women and Nation in War Films of Bangladesh

Dr. Fahmida Akhter, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama and Dramatics at Jahangirnagar University was invited by the Department of English and Humanities to give a talk on “Fragmented Memory, Incomplete History: Women and Nation in the War Films of Bangladesh” on November 30, 2017 at Campus B Seminar Room of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh.

Dr. Fahmida Akhter talked about her research where she explained to the audience how it explores the ways in which memories and histories of the war are shaped by the gender dynamics of nationalism in different periods through examining war-themed films of Bangladesh. The audience was engrossed in her talk where she explained how the construction of the roles and power structures of both male and female in the war films fall under the socially constructed ideologies regarding men and women.

Women’s passive side is more highlighted in the films whereas men are shown as heroic figures, where she argued that the raped women are excluded from the narratives by the war films to maintain a perceived purity of the nationalist discourse, following the national politics, culture and historiography of Bangladesh. The event became more vibrant by the question/answer session which was full of insightful questions and intriguing answers.

Covered by-Tasneem Mahmood Chowdhury, Piu Chowdhury